The present invention relates to a system for managing an asset connectable to a computer network such as a personal computer, a facsimile or a printer, and more particularly, to an asset management system in which information on the site where an asset is currently used is gathered from information circulating over a computer network and information on software and hardware assets installed in the asset is gathered by use of a software program distributed to the asset which software program is exclusively used for the information gathering, thereby automatically updating the management information of the asset so as to be always the latest one, and further to an asset management system and an asset management method in which information on an asset being out of a consumable item is gathered, the expiration of the lease is kept watch on and the administrator, the user or the like of the asset is notified of the presence of an out-of-stock consumable item and the expiration of the lease.
In companies, when an asset such as a personal computer is purchased, generally, the name, the model, the classification (fixed asset or leased asset), the date of purchase and the lease expiration date of the asset, the code number of the section using the asset, the user's code number are registered in a master file for managing the asset. When a LAN is built in the company, an IP address privately assigned to the asset or the like is also registered. When the asset is abandoned, the date of abandonment is registered in the master file.
In a case where a purchased asset is transferred to another section after registration for a reason such as reuse of an idle asset or transfer of the user to the section, when the transfer is reported to the administrator, asset management work such as maintenance of the master file is manually performed on the computer managing the master file.
Therefore, when an asset is transferred to another section without the transfer reported to the administrator or when the administrator neglects to perform the maintenance work, the section to which the asset belongs is unknown. Consequently, at the time of inventory, for example, it is necessary to make an investigation as to whether the asset still exists and when it exists, as to in which section the asset is used now. This increases the number of man-hours of the work.
The manual maintenance of the master file after the purchase of an asset and the increase in the number of man-hours due to the investigation of a missing asset as described above lead to an increase in the TCO (total cost of ownership).
In the case of an asset such as a personal computer, it is frequently performed to newly install a software program, upgrade a software program and install additional hardware after the purchase of the main apparatus, and the management work of these software and hardware assets are also manually performed. Therefore, in a case where installation or upgrade of a software program or installation of additional hardware is not reported to the administrator, the contents of the registration disagree with the actual condition.